Playing with sock puppets
by Teh Edo
Summary: SUMMERY CHANGE: Snippets from Kankurou's life before the Chuunin exam. Possible OOCness sometimes, and additional chapters on the other two sand sibs.
1. Prologue

**This little beginner chapter is for Hellzmessiah (from Gaiaonline), who suggested a baby Kurou-kun part in this story XD So, it's dedicated to her, and doesn't have much to do with the plot. Will have more baby stuff throughout the story in form of memories on the Kazekage's part.**

**Disclaimers: Naruto characters do not belong to me.

* * *

**

**Beginnings**

Bloodcurdling screams echoed through out the building, followed by an even higher pitched shriek, like that of a baby. People bustled in an upstairs room, crowding around the bed, which held a panting and pained woman.  
She stared avidly at the man cleaning off the infant, and wrapping it up tightly in a blanket. She wanted to hold it, wanted to look at her baby.  
"It's a boy."  
A smile broke her face and she let herself go limp, listening to it cry and feeling relieved. This one hadn't been as easy as her last, but he was ok. He _sounded_ ok, that was good enough for her.

Finally, they handed her the bundled up infant, and she held him close, gazing down at the red, screwed up face with indescribable affection. Adoration, if you will.

"Hello there," she said, still breathing a little heavily. The baby's face started to relax, and he opened his eyes almost uncertainly, staring up at his mother. He was tiny, like all children, and he greatly resembled his father, but she still found him to be beautiful. She ran a shaky hand over his cheek, swallowing heavily and smiling more, laughing lightly, "Welcome to the world."

----

Karura sat holding her little Kankurou, a bottle in one hand as she tried to coax him to put it into his mouth, "I know what you want, but I can't. You bit me remember? It still hurts." She blinked and looked up as she heard a frustrated whine, and smile when she saw her daughter laying on her stomach, staring through the bar of her crib at them.

"Good morning, Temari."

It had been three weeks since Kankurou was born, and it seemed to be getting harder and harder for his mother to spend any time with him. The moment Kankurou was born, the Kazekage had been planning and coddling the child near obsessively. She wished he'd give it a rest, sometimes. She felt she deserved to be able to hold him when and where she wanted.

This was one of those rare times where she was able to be with the both of her children, without anyone else.

But it didn't last long. The door opened and her husband stepped in, closing the distance and without a word, plucking the infant out of her arms. As usual, Karura didn't get a chance to argue, even though an uncharacteristic outrageous outburst was building up. The door shut behind the man and she sighed, standing up and moving to pick up Temari. "Are you hungry?"

* * *

**R&R x3 **

Next one is when Kankurou is about seven.


	2. Piggy, Piggy

**Disclaimer: I don't own nothing. If I did, Kankurou would be the star of Naruto, and Sasuke wouldn't be so damned emo.**

**Also, this is just my version of it, I have no idea how Kankurou's childhood was canon-wise. But eh, it's fun making him the target of bullies.

* * *

**

**Piggy, Piggy.**

"Father! Kankurou's calling me names again!" Temari came running into her father's office, crossing her arms huffily as her brother followed her, glaring.  
"I am not! She's lying, Kazekage-sama."  
Running his hand through his hair, the Kazekage groaned and dropped his pen, looking at them with his fingertips placed together. He did that when he was trying to remain calm, "What's going on?"

"He called me an idiot, and said that I was a bad shinobi."  
"I did not!"  
"Did too, Piggy!"

"Don't call me that!"

"Enough! I'm trying to work; I don't have time for this. Aren't you two supposed to be at the academy?"  
Letting out annoyed noises, both of them left the room, racing each other to the entrance, pushing and shoving the whole way. When they got there, Temari in the lead, they grabbed their stuff and left, making a bolt in the direction of the school.

The two siblings raced each other again, and again, Temari won. But only because Kankurou had slowed to a walk when he saw his sister's friends waiting for her. They always gave him hell, and Temari never helped him when they started. In fact, she joined in, and was usually the main antagonist.

"Hey look! It's Piggy!"

Piggy was a name Temari had given him not long ago, because of his nose. He hated it, and was often pushed to the verge of tears when people got really nasty with the pig jokes. He didn't look or act like a pig, no matter what they said. At least, that's what his father had muttered distractedly when Kankurou told him about it. It was also because of Temari that he had no friends, she pitted everyone against him, making it look like fun to tease him.

But, he couldn't bring himself to hate her, because she was only like this in public, and a lot of the time at home (if she wasn't in a mood) she was nice to him. Well, as nice as any of them could be. But she seemed to forget that whenever they stepped out of the house.

"Hey Piggy, gonna cry again?"

Kankurou clenched his fists and glared, walking again and keeping his eyes forward. He'd just walk past them, and go inside. Alas, they had different plans. The group moved in front of him, including Temari. The group consisted mostly of eight-year-old girls, but there were a few boys, and some were different ages. It didn't surprise him, though, how nasty they could be.

"It's rude to ignore people, you know."  
"Yeah!"

"Shut up, Temari…"

All they did was laugh. It's all the ever did when he said anything in his defense. Well, looked like he was just going to have to take it.  
"Come on, you lot. Inside."

Or not. He sighed and hurried past them, frowning and glancing over his shoulder when Temari called him.

"Hey, Piggy! Don't forget, we're going to the playground after, all of us, so don't be late or you're walking there on your own!"

He didn't reply, just started jogging, then disappeared into the building, leaving Temari to turn back to her friends, and laugh. She never saw what she did or said as mean, it just came out. It couldn't bother Kankurou THAT much.

Later that day, the sun was starting to sink out of view behind the buildings, and some of the kids were kicking a ball around. The playground was full, as it usually was on Fridays. Temari sat on a swing, kicking her legs absently.  
"Are you ok, Temari?"  
Next to her sat a small girl with long brown hair, pulled into pigtails, and olive skin. She swung lightly, eyes on her friend, her mouth slightly open, showing a gap where she'd recently lost a tooth.  
"Yeah…it's just…it's nearly time to go home, and Kankurou's not here yet."  
"Maybe he decided to just go home."  
"Yeah…that makes sense."  
There was a short silence then Temari looked up again, glancing towards the entrance to the playground hopefully, but found no messy-haired boy there.

"We're gonna go home now! Bye Temari, bye Lirena." They both waved as the kids started leaving, laughing and joking with each other, tossing the ball back and forth, and shouting their farewells as they all went their separate ways.

"I'm gonna go too. Father will be mad if I'm gone too long."  
"Ok. I'm gonna wait here a little longer, in case Kankurou comes."  
"Ok. Bye."  
"Bye."

So, she waited. And waited. And waited some more. She was there for almost two hours, before she hopped off the swing and went home. He was probably already there. Oh, was he going to get it. That little brat, making her wait there all that time for him.  
But when she got home, Kankurou's shoes weren't by the door, and when she asked where he was, everyone said they thought he'd been with her. When it finally caught on to the adults that Kankurou was missing, everyone went to look for him.

In the confusion, Temari saw Gaara look in to see what was happening, his bear clutched in his hands. It was worth a try. She moved over to him, hesitantly, and kept her distance, "Have you seen Kankurou?"

She was surprised when he nodded, "Ages ago, he was near the edge of the village."

Temari didn't get to reply, when someone else spoke up, and she turned. It was Baki. He frowned, and questioned Gaara some more, but Temari didn't stay to listen. She slipped out of the house, intent on helping. He'd probably just fallen asleep somewhere. He was always doing stupid stuff like that. He never took anything seriously.

Kankurou sat up on the ridge overlooking the Hidden Sand village. It had taken him the better part of nearly five hours to get up there, and he was still wheezing slightly from the effort. He could only use up so much chakra in the climb, and had had to do without for the last part. It wasn't easy, but he was where he wanted to be, far from the others, and it was worth it. He planned on going further, but he needed to rest.

Before heading here, he'd taken a detour home and snuck in to pack his things. Gaara had caught him on his way out, and he pleaded with him to make up something if someone asked where he'd gone. He didn't know if he would or not, but he'd be long gone before any found out he'd already left.

"Lord Kankurou."

The boy jumped and turned, then bit his lip and turned forward again, hunching his shoulders. Ok, so his plan hadn't worked out how he'd imagined, he'd already been caught…

Baki didn't move any closer, just stood there, a few meters behind him with his arms crossed, "I hope you weren't planning on going anywhere. The Kazekage would not be happy."

Kankurou pulled his shoulders further up, as if trying to hide.

"Knowing him, he'd send shinobi to every village to demand your return."

It took a moment for Kankurou to get what he was saying, but when he did, he turned, frowning, "He'd think someone took me?"

"He is already of the mind that you've been kidnapped, but he's remaining surprisingly level-headed about this, as there is no proof yet that you've even left the village. Come, we're going back."

The man left no room for argument, and Kankurou had no choice but to stand up and pull his bag onto his shoulders, holding out a hand for Baki to take a hold off, looking down at his feet. He was either ashamed he'd done this, or ashamed he'd gotten caught, it was hard to tell. Baki chuckled at this childish behavior, but didn't take his hand. He knew Kankurou was doing it out of habit. Someone would take his hand when he'd done something wrong to keep him from running off, as he was want to do, but Baki knew he wouldn't. Not this time.

"No. Let's just walk. You can tell me why you ran off."

Oh, man…he was going to look like an idiot. But, Kankurou just sighed and nodded dejectedly, walking beside Baki with his arms crossed.

"So?"  
There was a short silence, then Kankurou turned his head away before talking, "Temari was picking on me…"  
"That's all?"  
"No, that's not all!" He turned back, glaring, "They're always doing it, the lot of them! And it's her fault, I never had any of these problems before SHE started calling me names and making fun of me!"  
"Shinobis aren't supposed to let emotions sway their decisions."  
"I don't care! I'm just…ugh. Why doesn't anyone get it? Kazekage never even listens when I tell him, Temari just doesn't care, and now all you do is tell me that I'm not supposed to do stupid stuff!" Kankurou kicked at the dirt, his fists balled, "Why do they even pick on me! How am I different from everyone else?"

"You aren't," Baki answered patiently, "Your brother, HE is different. You just don't stand up to them, so they find it easier to pick on you. You may be under the impression that ignoring fights will make them go away, but that's not true. It just makes you seem vulnerable."  
"But, I thought you said about the shinobi, and emotions…"  
"I did. But there is a difference between letting emotions take over, and standing up for yourself. You don't need to be emotional to defend yourself, do you? In fact, you can't be, or it won't work out the way you want it to."

Kankurou blinked up at him; mouth slightly agape in both confusion and mild curiosity. He didn't say anything though, wanting to hear what else he had to say.  
"When you just turn the other cheek and walk away, it makes it obvious they're getting to you, and that you want to be away from them, so they keep targeting you. I'd say kids are cruel, but they have to learn it from somewhere, so it wouldn't be fair to pin the blame on them alone."

"So…I should be mean back?"

Baki's mouth twitched a bit, and he chuckled again, "No, that would make you as bad as them. Be the bigger man, and come up with a better comeback."

Kankurou laughed, looking forward again, and shifting his back, "I can do that."

"I know you can. You're clever, a lot more clever than a lot of the kids there. They always say the same thing, don't they?"

"Pretty much."

"Then come up with something they have no comeback for. Which shouldn't be that hard, if they can't think up original insults. What do they call you?"

"Piggy…they used to call me Big nose, but that kinda got lame."

"Piggy sounds pretty stupid too."

"Yeah, it does. Guess they aren't clever…"

Kankurou was grinning now, his eyes shut, reminding Baki vaguely of a cat. A cat that caught a particularly juicy mouse and was toying with it. He had a feeling Kankurou was going to be very vindictive when he next saw those kids, despite what they said. Well, whatever worked.

"We should hurry. Your father won't remain calm for much longer."

Kankurou nodded and started running, heading down the long way towards the village, with Baki keeping a steady pace beside him.

* * *

**R&R, yeah. **

If anything seems a bit off, it's because I'm not used to Naruto fandom yet x3 Sorry.


	3. Piggy, Piggy Part 2

**Disclaimer: Not mine. Never will be.**

**Ok, I've decided that instead of a plot, this will be random snippets from throughouthis/their lives. So yeah…**

**Some Gaara sweetness, so if you don't like him being capable of nice things as a kid, don't read on because he does it twice. Yes, TWICE >D Both times for Kankurou. **

**

* * *

**

Piggy, Piggy part 2

Upon returning home, Kankurou had been scolded and narrowly avoided any severe punishment. Everyone but his father had been spared the real reason he'd tried to run away, and were left to their imaginations. Kankurou had been sent to bed without dinner, two hours before dinner was even due.

Kankurou sat on his bed, hugging a tatting, and somewhat unattractive plush doll to his chest. Nobody knew what to call it, all they knew was the boy referred to it as a 'him'.  
"This is stupid…I can look at myself! Why should I have to stay?"  
He heaved an annoyed sigh and stretched out on his back, his head lying on the blankets piled at the foot of his bed. His arm, and the doll, flopped onto the mattress and he heaved another, more exaggerated sigh.  
"This is Temari's fault. Her and her teme friends…they're the reason I want to leave in the first place." There was a small gasp from the door and Kankurou lifted his head, blinking.

Temari was standing there, holding a bowl of food, which she'd obviously snuck up with the intent of giving it to her hungry brother. She looked shocked, and hurt, that he'd said such a thing.  
"What…what was that just now? Why did you say that?"  
Kankurou sat up, but didn't look at her, hugging his doll tightly. He heard to place the bowl on the floor then leave hurriedly.  
Man…she was going to tell Kazekage that he'd said such mean things, and he'd be in even more trouble! And she'd be angry with him…He didn't want that. It was bad enough when she was doing it for now reason, but she could be cruel if you pissed her off.

"I'm in trouble…" he said to his doll, biting down on his lip and hugging it tighter.

Down the hall, Temari was standing, her hands curled in front of her uncertainly. What had she done to make her brother want to run away? She couldn't think of anything. It wasn't fair of him to blame her like that! She hadn't done anything to him.

She frowned, looking down at her feet, thinking about what had happened earlier that day. Did he hate being called Piggy that much? If he'd just SAID how much he didn't like it…Oh, wait. He had, plenty of times. She'd just never taken him seriously, thinking he was trying to pick a fight, or get her in trouble.

Blinking, she looked up at the sound of light footsteps. She saw Gaara heading down the hall towards her, carrying food. He stopped when he saw her then toed the ground guiltily, looking down at the bowl. Temari was a little surprised. While Gaara was nothing like he'd be when he grew older, he still didn't share a bond with his siblings, mostly because they were terrified of him. But here he was, taking food to Kankurou. Maybe it was one of his weird mood swings…

There was a long silence, during which Gaara just looked down, then Temari spoke up, "Is…is that for Kankurou-kun?"

The smaller boy nodded, scuffing his foot again, "I thought he'd be hungry." Temari almost didn't hear him say it, but only just caught it and glanced over her shoulder, "I...I just gave him food."

"Oh." The disappointed tone in the young boy's voice was obvious, and Temari blinked back her surprise. When he didn't say anything else, she hesitated, before moving past him and going into her room.

Gaara stood there for a moment, then moved forward and placed the bowl in front of Kankurou's door, before heading back the way he'd come, hugging onto his bear uncertainly.

It was about five hours later when Kankurou opened his door slowly, and found the bowl. He'd planned on sneaking downstairs for seconds when everyone was asleep, but somehow had already seen through that, apparently. He picked it up and smiled, before going back into his room. Cold food was better than no food.

A few rooms down, the door was slightly ajar, and a sleep-deprived eye and a shock of red hair could just be seen in the darkness. He'd taken it, and been happy…he probably didn't know who'd left it there. But that was ok, as long as he got food. Gaara knew Kankurou couldn't handle going without a meal. Yashamaru said it was because he was a growing boy. The door shut slowly, and the hallway was once more deserted.

-----

The next morning, Kankurou hurried out of his room, happy to be free. He'd exhausted everything he had to amuse himself, even his marionettes, which he loved to pieces. Literally. He liked to take them apart then rebuild them. He stretched, grinned, and went downstairs; making more noise than was necessary, to make sure someone else was awake while he was. He didn't like quiet mornings.

Fortunately, there was someone awake. Unfortunately, it was Gaara. It must be early if he was down here when Gaara was. His brother usually came down early to avoid coming into contact with anyone. The redhead blinked and looked up from the small pile of sand he had in front of him, and recoiled a bit when he saw he wasn't his uncle, as he'd expected. They stared at each other, and Kankurou took a few steps back.

"Wait!"

He froze, looking nervous and watching the other boy warily. Gaara was standing, and was tugging on the hem of his shirt, trying to figure out what to say to keep Kankurou from running away from him. He hated it when they ran. He wanted them stay in the same room as him, just for a little while. Was that too much to ask?

"Please…A-are you hungry?"

Not anymore he wasn't…but he swallowed and gave a jerky nod, hoping Gaara would leave if he knew Kankurou wanted to use the kitchen. That wasn't the case. The younger of the two moved over to a cabinet and opened it, wanting to make breakfast for his brother. "What do you eat?" He blinked when he got no reply and looked over his shoulder. Kankurou was staring at him, fearful. He felt something in his chest knot, and he looked down sadly, "Y-You're not hungry anymore?"

Kankurou snapped out of it, then swallowed again and moved further in, taking a seat at the table and gripping his hands nervously. Gaara perked up a bit, but still looked unsure. "Yashamaru taught me how to make sandwiches." Granted, he couldn't do it if it involved cutting or spreading anything, but he could still make them.

He gathered whatever he thought he could put on a sandwich, and carried it over to the table. Pulling himself up onto a chair, he looked over what he grabbed. Oh, he couldn't put that on a sandwich. He set the old rice ball aside, and went back to what he had. He was feeling a lot better now. Kankurou was letting him make him a sandwich. He could finally show someone else what he'd learnt.

Five long minutes later, a messy sandwich was done, and Kankurou was nearly falling asleep. That is, until he had something that may have consisted of bread, meat and a manner of other things he wasn't sure of shoved in his face, and he sat up, taking it and looking at it apprehensively. Was…was that noodle moving?

He glanced up and bit his lip when he saw Gaara watching him expectantly. He took a deep breath and took a bite, chewing slowly. Oh God…there was something crunchy on it. He forced a weak smile onto his face, not wanting to upset the demon container. Gaara, who'd been holding his breath, looked relieved. He liked it! The fact that his face was getting red was because he was happy…Right?

"There you are, Lord Gaara…" Yashamaru faltered when he saw what the older boy was eating, and winced inwardly. "You shouldn't be eating before breakfast." He watched as Kankurou's face went to one of immense discomfort, to one of relief, and he took the sandwich. "Let's leave your brother in peace."

They left without another word, and Kankurou groaned, holding his stomach. Ugh…what was this feeling? It was like something was moving around in his stomach. He hadn't eaten anything living, had he? God, he hoped not…

All day from that point, he was running to the bathroom every ten minutes to throw up his now nonexistent stomach contents. He was pale and shaky, and was once again, back in his room, confined to his bed unless he needed to vomit. He finally fell asleep, but it wasn't for long. He woke with a start to see Temari looming over him, looking concerned.

When she saw he was awake, she backed up and turned to leave, but he reached out and grabbed the first thing he could reach. Her ponytail. She screeched and turned to hit him, but he was looking at her so pathetically, she stopped and stared at him questioningly.

"What I said yesterday…I didn't mean it. Are you mad at me?"

Temari gave him a weird look. "I thought you were mad at ME."

"I was."

"Do you still want to leave?"

"Yeah."

Temari sighed and crossed her arms, "Is it because I call you Piggy?"

"It's because everyone calls me Piggy, and you started it! You and your friends are always picking on me. I didn't do anything to you. And I've seen what happens when people get older. They start beating up the people they pick on."

The blond girl looked shocked, "Why would I beat you up!"

"You wouldn't, but the others would!"

There was a long, strained silence, which one wouldn't think was possible between people who were so young. Temari looked away, and Kankurou frowned, laying back down and hugging his doll.

"I'm sorry." Without giving him a chance to reply, she left and Kankurou sat up again, looking kind of ashamed now. Great…now he'd made her feel bad. It was one thing when he got her angry, but this was different. Sighing, he lay down and rolled over, going back to sleep.

* * *

**R&R and thanks to SnapdragonBojangles for reviewing **


	4. Bonding

Thanks to SnapdragonBojangles, kittyclaw, and Anime-Dudette for reviewing . Trust me, you don't want to know what was on that sandwich x3

And sorry this took so long. Recently became very, very busy, and finished this quickly before work x3

Bonding 

"Aha! I did it! Told you Temari," Kankurou turned, smirking and putting his hands on his hips. Temari just rolled her eyes and huffed, opening her fan and swinging it. Kankurou stared in horror as his marionette was blown off of the roof it had been on, and hit the ground. It's head came off and rolled to a stop at his feet.

"Temari! I only just fixed that this morning!"

The blond just laughed and folded up her fun, "I guess you'll have to do it again. That's what you get for being a show-off."

"You're just mad, 'cause I proved you wrong."

Temari pulled a face then stuck her tongue out. Even though she was ten, she could still act immature when she wanted to. Kankurou stuck his tongue out right back and picked up the marionette, which was nearly as tall as him, then scooped to retrieve the head, letting out an annoyed noise.

"Only babies break other peoples things…" he grumbled, then followed after his sister, who was heading to the playground, her nose in the air and her fan over her shoulder. It wasn't a very big one, and she'd only just got it because she was being trained with it, but it did it's job. It's job being to knock her brother's stupid dolls out of the air.

It didn't always work, but she wasn't going to admit that. She looked over her shoulder, and smirked when she saw Kankurou trying to reattach the head as he walked. Stupid dolls…She didn't understand why he liked them so much. They were creepy. The one he had now had the most disturbing face. Well, to her anyway. He was fond of it, but she always knew he was a weirdo.

And she had to admit; there were some good things about it. Last year he'd finally snapped, and shook of the nickname 'Piggy' by setting his puppet after the other kids. Thankfully, nobody was seriously injured, but it was fun to watch nonetheless.

"Wait up!"

Temari grinned and stopped, waiting for him to catch up. They'd been spending more time together, out of the house, since Yashamaru died. Gaara wasn't the best company anymore, and they preferred to stay as far from him as possible. They were even living in separate houses now, after Gaara had tried to attack Kankurou. The youngest of the three seemed to go after the middle child more and more as the weeks went by. Even different houses didn't help all the time.

But none of that was on Temari's mind. They were far from either homes, and she was amused by Kankurou's struggles. She would offer help if she could, but she knew nothing about putting those dolls back together, so it was better to leave him alone with it.

"Ha! Done it!"

"Good. Can we go?"

Again, he stuck his tongue out, and hit Temari over the back of the head as he ran past, laughing and putting his marionette over his shoulders. It looked like it was staring at Temari, and she shuddered. But she grinned and chased after him with a loud 'hey!'

"Get back here, you little brat!"

His reply was a rather rude noise, and Temari laughed, speeding up. She always prided herself on being faster than her brother. She had to have SOMETHING to throw back at him when he called her short, didn't she?

By the time they'd reached the playground, she'd tackled him three times, but hadn't been able to hold him down. He was growing fast, and quite frankly, she wasn't. She was starting to wonder whether it was some weird sort of jutsu that made him look taller. Yes…she didn't like being short. Especially shorter than her little brother.

Now, they were on the swings, Temari kicking her feet a bit, and Kankurou trying to see how high he could go. The puppet and the fan were against the wall behind them, the puppets head turned away so Temari didn't feel like she was being watched.

"You're gonna get dizzy! Stop swinging so high."

"No I'm not," Kankurou laughed, "Haha! My head goes over the pole!"

"Big deal," Temari said, rolling her eyes, "A few more years, you'll be able to do that just by standing up.

Kankurou glared at her, as he swung past, "I'm not that tall! I'm only, like, a couple of centimeters or whatever taller than you!"

"Whatever."

They were silent for a long time, and Temari stared ahead of her, not doing much of anything. Her mind was blissfully blank, until she realized Kankurou had stopped swinging and was talking to her.

"Hey, Temari…"

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever been to the theatre?"

"No," Temari gave him an odd look, "Why would I go there?"

"I dunno."

Temari stared at him, "I don't like things like that. Performances. I can't sit still for that long."

Kankurou gave her that cat-grin of his, his eyes shut. "You've got too much energy then."

"And you don't?"

Kankurou shrugged and started swinging again, "Not as much as you. I like watching plays. And puppet shows."

Temari laughed and rolled her eyes, "That does kind of make sense," she said rather sarcastically, shaking her head. "You're a puppet weirdo."

Kankurou looked thoughtful, and Temari was unsure whether he'd even heard what she said.

"Plus. They're just shows. Isn't it more fun to fight with them?"

Kankurou looked down, embarrassed, "Well…yeah, I guess. But you can't fight _all_ the time…"

Temari looked confused, then shrugged it off and started swinging as well. After another brief silence, she turned to look at him again, "And they dress weird there. Have you seen them? They wear face paint, and all black, and I've seen a couple with weird hats. It's like they try to cover up as much as possible."

"Blend in."

"Huh?"

"They can blend in that way. It's the puppets you're supposed to see, not the person pulling the strings. When you watch a puppet show, you want to believe they're moving on their own. If you can see the person, it's a lot less enjoyable. Same with fighting. Your opponent won't know where you are."

Temari stared at him for a long while. When did he become able to say something so…deep? Was that the right word? Deep? Ah well, it didn't sound right coming from her brother, either way.

"…What?"

"Nothin'. Do you want me to push you?"

Kankurou just stared at her for a moment, then gave that patented grin of his and nodded, getting comfortable as Temari moved behind him and pulled back on the chains.

She pushed him for maybe two, nearly three hours, and though Kankurou was tired after the first, he didn't complain. He understood this was a sort of bonding thing for his older sister. He didn't quite understand it yet, but he didn't need to. With Gaara becoming the way he was, and their father becoming more distant from his children, Temari needed someone to bond with, and Kankurou was the only one.

He didn't mind. He generally liked to operate alone, but when it came to his sister, it was her wants that came first, because he couldn't be the regular little brat of a brother nowadays. He had to make sure she was happy.

Getting lost in his thoughts, Kankurou didn't notice that Temari had stopped pushing him until he came to a complete stop. He blinked and looked over his shoulder at Temari, who was wiping at her eye and sniffling. Of course, when he made her happy, this often happened…it didn't make sense.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing…Let's go home now."

"Ok..."

**Read and enjoy, lovelies. Or don't enjoy, whatever you wish.**


	5. Face paint

**This chapter is from Temari's point of view. And has obvious references to boy-boy love. I couldn't help it, I had to put it in somewhere. I realize I'll probably scare off a lot of people, but it's not smut, or anything like that. There isn't even kissing XP**

**Thanks to Spearette, Anne Ominous, Opera-Gypsy, Anime-dudette, and kittyclaw.**

**Face paint**

Temari could pinpoint the exact day Kankurou started wearing face paint. She was thirteen at the time, and remembered waiting outside for him, with her fan over her should and her foot tapping restlessly against the ground as she grumbled over what could possibly be taking him this long. She remembered staring as he stepped out the door, and remembered the inexplicable feeling over anger that built up in her chest.

It was only a small pattern, but it didn't look like him. It made him look harsher, colder. She hated it.

When she asked him why, he just shrugged and walked passed her, eyes on the ground and face expressionless. This only served to annoy her more. She fell into step beside him, glaring at the side of his head. She could tell she was making him uncomfortable.

When he started wearing baggy clothes, she let it slide. When he started wearing that ridiculous hat to cover his mop of soft her, she let it slide. But this was going too far.

"Are you completely trying to cover yourself up? Why don't you just wear a mask!" she snapped, narrowing her eyes. He was looking less and less like her brother every day, and she did not like it one bit.

She didn't understand why either. He wasn't ugly. Sure, he wasn't drop-dead gorgeous, but he was attractive in his own way. Temari knew a couple of girls that liked him, but whenever she brought it up he just glared and cut her off.

"You have some serious issues, you know that? What is this, some sort of low self esteem?"

"No…"

"Then what?"

"It's none of your business."

"Oh, fine. Don't tell me. Not like I was concerned about you or anything. You know, like a big sister SHOULD be."

"Shut up…"

"No! I won't shut up until you tell me what's going on with you! You dress like a weirdo, you turn down every girl that talks to you, and now you're wearing this purple gunk on your face!" Temari was near shouting now, but she stopped when a realization hit her, "Is this a theatre thing?"

"The face paint, yeah."

"And the hat?"

"Yes."

"The clothes."

"Those too."

Temari was silent now, looking ahead of her with a frown on her face, "And the girls?" She was met with silence, and turned to look at her brother, "Kankurou? And the girls?"

"…No."

It was strange how a discussion of face paint had turned to girls. She'd gotten the answers to his appearance, but this was still a mystery. And like any mystery, this one was begging to be solved. Well, maybe not THAT much of a mystery.

"Then what is it?"

"I'm just not interested…"

"In girls?"

"Yes." Kankurou's face was set and determined, but he wouldn't look at her. He jaw was clenched, and he had that look that told Temari there was something he wanted to say, but was scared too. She hadn't seen that look in awhile.

"I like…"

Temari frowned, getting frustrated when he trailed off, so she finished his sentence for him, "Boys?"

"…yes."

"Pfft!" Temari laughed, shaking her head.

Kankurou glared at her, very much annoyed. When she kept laughing, he twitched and stopped, his face bright red.

"What's so funny?"

"That's IT? You had trouble saying THAT?"

Kankurou was confused now, but his glare was still in place. Temari sighed and walked over to him, grinning.

"Kanky." God he hated it when she called him that, "I'm your big sister. Deep down, I've always known."

"…What?"

"It's not obvious or anything. I'll bet no one else has noticed, but you're my baby brother," she pinched his painted cheek, smirking, "I pick up on these things. I've known since you were younger."

"How could you possibly have known?"

"Small signs."

"Like what?"

"You always wanted to be the wife when we played family."

"Oh…"

"That's only one of the more obvious ones. Now come on, we're going to be late."

Yup, she remembered the exact day. And that exact day, she decided that she could live with the face paint, and the weird clothes. With her assurance, he even started wearing less. But then word leaked out among their peers that he was gay. When she overheard someone mention it, she was worried. She thought maybe they'd revert back to seeing him as someone to pick on.

That didn't happen.

But something worse did.

Boys would come around all the time. Attractive boys. Temari rather liked it at first, but then it dawned on her why. She chased the cute blond from her house, beating him over the head with her fan.

The next day, Kankurou found an odd black one-piece on his bed.

----------------------

**That was way overdue.  
**


End file.
